How Musa Bihi is handling the Berbera base issue
Under pressure from the Emirates, the Somaliland president has little room for manoeuvre… [...]
Published on 10 August 2016
The great Arab diplomatic battle for control of the Red Sea coast
Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates (UAE), who are allies of circumstance in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), are moving into East Africa so as to combat the Houthi rebels in Yemen more effectively. Behind their shared wish to control the Red Sea, however, both are courting countries in the region in the service of their own interests.
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SOMALILAND 19/01/2018
Military bases a token of UAE-Turkish rivalry for clout
With Turkey poised to open a training camp for the Somali National Army (SNA) in Mogadishu the United Arab Emirates is equally building several military sites in Somalia. The two countries are locked in a struggle for influence against a [. [...]
HORN OF AFRICA UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 13/01/2017
Will the United Arab Emirates control the Red Sea’s African coastline?
Already running commercial ports in Djibouti and Berbera, the UAE are developing more and more military installations on the Red Sea, to Ethiopia’s consternation. [...]
Khartoum organises war in Darfur with Riyadh’s support
Amidst a high media blaze, Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir went on an official visit to Riyadh for a meeting with King Salman bin Abdelaziz on 24 October. The Indian Ocean Newsletter has learnt that this visit was preceded on [. [...]
SOMALILAND 16/09/2016
Egypt and UAE common front against Houthis
A fact-finding mission made up of Egyptian and UAE officers has just examined the possibility of using Berbera airport in [...]
EAST AFRICA 29/07/2016
The war in Yemen has resulted in a recomposition of Arab-African alliances
Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates (UAE), who are allies of circumstance in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), are moving into East Africa so as to combat the Houthi rebels in Yemen more effectively. Behind their shared wish to control the Red Sea, however, both are courting countries in the region in the service of their own interests. [...]
US-Arab cold war in the Horn of Africa
Ethiopia, a staunch ally of the United States, will have its work cut out to contain the hostility of its Eritrean and Egyptian neighbours, who in turn have support from certain Arab countries, namely Saudi Arabia and the United Arab [. [...]
Naval chief Sultan on way out
According to our sources, Admiral Abdullah bin Suntan al-Sultan appears to be headed for the door as Saudi Arabia's naval [...]
Gulf of Aden, arms supermarket
In recent weeks, seizures of arms shipments on fishing boats in the Gulf of Aden have abounded, although the investigations by Western and Somalian authorities have not been able to identify the organised networks. Whatever their origins, their country of [. [...]
Difficult discussions between Riyadh and Houthi
Despite some headway that was made during discreet negotiations between Yemen's Houthi rebels and the Saudi Arabian government earlier this month, a resolution to the conflict seems a long way off. [...]
DJIBOUTI 20/11/2015
Riyadh puts its army on the coast
President Ismaïl Omar Guelleh never misses an opportunity to go to Riyadh to celebrate his good relations with King Salman [...]
Asmara used for strikes against Houthi
According to information obtained by Intelligence Online, the United Arab Emirates has a secret base in Eritrea that it is using as a launch pad for its fighter planes in Yemen.` [...]
IOG gets support from Gulf States to counter UAE
Failing to break the ice with the UAE, President Ismaïl Omar Guelleh is trying to thaw his country’s relations with Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Qatar. IOG has managed to win the Gulf countries back to his country, using Djibouti’s strategic [. [...]
DJIBOUTI 23/10/2015
What Ismail Omar Guelleh negotiated in Saudi Arabia
During his official visit to Riyadh on 18 and 19 October, the Djibouti Head of State Ismaïl Omar Guelleh (IOG) [...]
SUDAN 23/10/2015
Sudanese army arriving in strength in Yemen
According to a military source, two battalions of 450 Sudan Defence Force soldiers landed in Port Aden on 18 and [...]
Saudi-Emirati ‘Yalta' in Tangiers
In a meeting in Tangiers on August 20, the Emirati and Saudi military chiefs carved up Yemen into future zones of influence. [...]
Two exiled ministers reach Aden via Assab
President Isaias Afwerkin of Eritrea has begun to implement the [...]
Clash with Abu Dhabi remodels regional alliances
Following the altercation in Djibouti on 27 April between Wahib Moussa Kalinleh, the commander of Forces aériennes djiboutiennes (FAD – Djibouti air force), and Ali Al Shihi, Vice Consul of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Djibouti and the UAE broke [. [...]
Tehran agrees plan to arm Hamas
The reconciliation between Tehran and the Palestinian organisation Hamas has been sealed with the signing of a weapons shipments deal, according to Intelligence Online's sources. [...]
Storm warning over DP World Berbera contract
For DP World (DPW), the contract it signed on 9 May to run Berbera Port (ION 1427 and click HERE to see our special report) is primarily a $442 million industrial operation. But in the Horn of Africa, it is [. [...]
Behind the scenes of the DP World contract on Berbera Port
After dilly-dallying for years, Silanyo finally awarded the concession to run Berbera Port to the UAE. We take a look behind the scenes. [...]
Bollore, MSC and DP World all after the Berbera contract
A new twist in the saga to obtain the concession and contract for the management of the port of Berbera (click here to read our special report)! The proposal by the French operator Bollore Africa Logistics (BAL) was almost buried [. [...]
DJIBOUTI 20/11/2015
Al Hamra eyeing a contract to secure the ports
According to our sources, the Emirates company supplying security systems [...]
Emirates wooing both Mogadishu and Hargeisa
The United Arab Emirates wants to give financial support to the rival authorities of Somalia and Somaliland. [...]
DJIBOUTI 09/10/2015
Lootah affair gives UAE the jitters again
The trials and tribulations in Djibouti of the Dubai-based holding [...]